Thursday, April 28, 2005
Bite off more than you can chew, then chew like hell
No runnning today, but I felt it was time to finally nail my colours to the wall, and go public with my big picture goal. Originally my plan was to head to Edmonton, Canada, for the World Masters Games in June this year, and try to defend my 400m hurdles title (it being 2.5 years since I last ran one of these). However, finances and a small child put paid to that, and my recent injuries wouldn't have helped matters. And anyway, the next Games are in Sydney in 2009, so what's the rush?
But, when you hang out with people that do deca-triathlons (38km swim, 1800km bike ride, 420km run) or run from sea level to the top of Mt Kosiosko, it seems a small picture goal just won't do. So I have decided to compete in the World Double Decathlon Championships next year, which just happen to be in Australia. For the uninitiated (ie everyone), here's what's involved:
Day 1 - 100m, Long Jump, 200m hurdles, Shot Put, 5,000m, 800m, High Jump, 400m, Hammer Throw, 3,000m Steeplechase
Day 2 - 110m hurdles, Discus, 200m, Pole Vault, 3,000m, 400m Hurdles, Javelin, 1500m, Triple Jump and a nice easy 10,000m to finish
On the up-side, you do get an hour off for lunch each day!
What's my motivation? For starters, I turn 35 this year. My body is starting to creak a bit, and sporting endeavours will become more and more of a compromise, so there is no point putting off big goals for a later date - "someday is not a day of the week", as a wise person once said. So if you're going to set a goal, you may as well make it a big one - and things with the word "World" in them tend to fall into that category. However, I could set my sights on the World Chess Championships, to no avail, due to the fact that I am crap at chess. So I thought I'd pick something that I have some degree of aptitude towards.
I'm no slouch in the sprinting department, and have been known to do the odd half-marathon, so I am pretty strong in the running events. In a standard decathlon, this is not much of a virtue, as only four of the ten events are running based, and one of these involves some very high hurdles in the way. However, in the double decathlon, running events make up 12 of the 20 events, and six of these are 800m and over - giving an advantage to us whippets over the hefty smurfs. Throw in my presentable long jump, triple jump and high jump and that's three-quarters of the events accounted for. That still leaves the Pole Vault, for which my PB is currently 0.0 metres, and the four throwing events, which range from mediocre (shot put) to downright hilarious (hammer throw).
However, my main motivation is to get back into regular competition. I used to do Wednesday night athletics at my local club (we are heading back 10 years now), and loved having a go at everything (humiliation in the throwing events not withstanding). Having 20 PBs to chase, and the variety of events to practice and compete in, is something I am really looking forward to. And the weights and training for the throwing events will finally give Mrs Sparkie something decent to look at after all these years, to go with her soon-to-be-acquired more slender self (she started WW tonight).
What are my goals? The Australian Champs in April next year will be my first attempt at the event, although I would like to have a shot at a standard decathlon earlier in the year. The current Australian champion does just under 12,000 points. The best in the world do 13,000+. I love to break 11,000 points, but really just getting through the event without giving up the ghost would be an achievement.
So, in the next six months, I have to learn how to pole vault, throw heavy objects, build up enough muscle to throw heavy objects, improve my very rusty sprinting technique, learn how to jump over 1.1m high bits of wood without stopping, and remind myself how to Fosbury Flop again. All this while trying to build a solid distance base over winter, and keep my preferred start in the City to Surf. Oh well, now I've gone public, it's too late to change my mind!
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Another attempt to restart training
Coinciding with the arrival of my Garmin 301 GPS/HRM from the states, I decided to give the foot another try after extending my stress fracture recovery another 10 days. Everything went pretty well, although my elevated HR (180 - I don't get this high in races) showcased my complete lack of fitness. However, my breathing was comfortable, normally a sign I am not pushing too hard. Best of all, I am itching to get out tomorrow, although I will have to have a rest day.
Details:
27/04/2005 12:30 pm
Workout Type: Endurance - Short Endurance
Course: Normanhurst
Distance: 5.04km
Time: 23:06
Average HR: 166
Comments: First run back for nearly a fortnight. Foot felt pretty good - stiff, but not sore. HR was way up, but breathing fairly easy, which is more to do with how unfit I am than how hard I was running. First time out with the Garmin, which was pretty good, although some of the numbers are a bit over the shop - at no stage was I running 2:40/km or 7:20/km. Hopefully this will be the start of a proper return to training.
Pace Steady
On the advise of others, I will try and blog more regularly, even when I am not running. My big goal for the next 18 months (the subject of tomorrow's post, as I don't have a run scheduled) will ensure that even non-run days I will be working towards my target,, and hopefully have something to report.
Away from running (but not really), RunDiary.net is getting close to release to testers (hopefully by the weekend), and I have had some exciting meetings in the past week, with some good interest shown. It's not looking as slick as the Garmin software, but will be June (and it does 100x as much). The WEBSite www.rundiary.net is close to being finished, and actually looks like a proper WEB site.
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
2nd run back
13/04/2005 4:37pm
Workout Type: Strength - Tempo
Course: Loretto
Distance: 5.25
Time: 21:59
Average HR: 151
Comments: Once again the foot felt pretty good. Went barefoot from the start, and did 7 laps of Loretto oval
(750m). Pushed things a bit, although still quite comfortable, with the higher HR being more to do with lack of
fitness than the intensity. Eased back for the last two laps. Another rest day tomorrow, and then I will hit the road
in my new Kayanos on Friday.
Splits: 3:04,3:02,3:01,2:59,3:12,3:14,3:24 (consiously eased up over the second half).
Monday, April 11, 2005
I'm back... again...
Well, firstly apologies for not keeping my blog up to date. As some of
you may know, I have been out of action with a stress fracture for the last seven weeks, and have been a bit
unmotivated to post. Today was my first run back, and even though it was only a short one, it felt great. In two
minds about the foot - it wasn't sore, but I was aware of it. My doctor said that there would be some stiffness, so
it's a bit of a balancing act to know how things are going. I intend to take it very easy over the next few weeks
and months, aiming to get fitness and strength back, and worry about speed later.
The other really exciting thing is that this post has been done with my new software - RunDiary.net. Everything
you are reading was pulled from my training log, and pumped up to the WEB at the press of a button. The
software is currenly in beta testing, and the web site (also called RunDiary.net, just to confuse things) will be up in
the next few days. If you really, really, really want to be on the beta program, drop me a line at
sparkie@rundiary.net
Here is a summary of my run today. What is so cool about this is that I didn't have to type is out - I just dragged a
template with all the information automatically filled in.
11/04/2005 4:00 pm
Workout Type: Endurance - Short Endurance
Course: Loretto
Distance: 3km
Time: 16:00
Average HR: 144
Comments: First run back after stress fracture. Did 5 laps of Loretto - probably about 3.5km all up. Took off my
shoes after the first lap, which felt more comfortable. No strong pain, but foot a bit stiff. Dr JH said that this was
likely to happen during my return, but it is a bit disconcerting as you are not sure whether you are coming back to
early.All in all, the pace was pretty good, and I felt strong - normally my first runs back are sluggish and tough,
although they are normally longer and hillier than this. Will give tomorrow a miss, and repeat on Wednestday,
probably going for 20-21 minutes (each lap is about 3 minutes at an average clip).
What's coming up?
I have set myself a really really big goal for the next 18 months which I will be talking about in a later post this
week. And working like a dog to fix all the little niggles that are popping up in RunDiary.net!
